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Universal to spend billions turning Bedford brickyard into its first European theme park
The Guardian
|April 09, 2025
First Beijing, and now Bedford: a "transformative" new British tourist magnet is coming to the home counties - just off the A421.
A former brickworks will be the site of a new multibillion-pound theme park from the entertainment behemoth Universal, the government will confirm today.
The venture is projected to bring 8.5 million visitors near to the market town, create tens of thousands of jobs, and become the biggest visitor attraction in Britain.
The first Universal theme park in Europe, it will squat on a 192-hectare (476-acre) site at the former Kempston Hardwick brickworks, as part of a larger complex incorporating a 500-bed hotel and "a retail, dining and entertainment complex".
Though it is "still too early" to think about planned rides and attractions, Universal has said, among the draws at its most recently opened park in Beijing are the Minions-themed Loop-Dee Doop-Dee, the Transformers Megabase Decepticoaster and an area entitled the Kung Fu Panda Land of Awesomeness.
Universal claims the project will be "transformative for Bedford and deliver significant benefits for the UK economy". Announcing the deal, the prime minister was eager to claim credit for any potential benefits.
This story is from the April 09, 2025 edition of The Guardian.
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